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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25699024">On Water</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_kaijou/pseuds/sky_kaijou'>sky_kaijou</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On Fire / On Water [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:09:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>996</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25699024</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_kaijou/pseuds/sky_kaijou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katsuya takes a moment by the water to reflect on the last few years of his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>On Fire / On Water [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katsuya lead himself through a field of cosmos, dipping behind a crumbling shed and through a tiny gap in a fence that’s losing its wire. He found this shortcut when he was just six years old and still came here more than fifteen years later the exact same way. Katsuya enjoyed the rhythm of the swell and crash on the seventh wave on this secluded part of the beach. The water creeping closer to his toes as high tide drew in. But he stubbornly didn’t want to move further back on the shore.</p>
<p>The beautiful part of the beach was its untouched rock pools. Beautiful starfish could be found during low tide. Katsuya used to play with them, now he just stops to admire them. They have homes and little ecosystems and none of the worries a human does about being accepted by society.</p>
<p>Not that Katsuya gave too much of a shit about that. In a homogenous society, his half-Western features stuck out. His fluffy hair and broad shoulders hardly fit Japanese clothing. His mouthiness hadn’t been quelled like his friends in High School. And he had the whole world at his fingertips.</p>
<p>Sure, he had an average job, slowly working his way up from the bottom of an Engineering career post High School. Sure, he had an average income, average life expectancy. Pacing himself through life was never meant to be part of his course. Life fast, die young. Isn’t that what the world thought of when they had an image of Jounouchi in their head? The thug image never really shrugged off his shoulders. Especially now, much mouthier than his Japanese coworkers. “If something ain’t broke, why fix it?” That’s not a way to live, Katsuya thinks. If something ain’t broke, doesn’t mean it can’t be done better, quicker, smarter. Ask for forgiveness, not permission if met with resistance.</p>
<p>The spell of high school had never worn off. It was a little rocky, navigating the real world. Seto’s long hours. Katsuya’s need to get by without dropping his name.  Seto had offered countless times to pay for University, for Katsuya to get better training, for employment at Kaiba-Corp adjacent companies. Katsuya wanted none of that. He just enjoyed talking shit with co-workers and getting his hands covered in oil. Stains around his nailbeds. Grazes on his knuckles. He allowed the one luxury of getting into Seto’s ridiculous-sized bath at the end of the night to soothe his aching muscles.</p>
<p>Katsuya never asked anything of Seto he knew he couldn’t provide. Katsuya respected his job and time. Nothing had changed in that way since teenagers. It would be selfish to ask for more because it was part of the package in the first place. Though Seto had since began to relax. Slowly. Mokuba was almost eighteen and taking over more as time permitted. Seto had started turning his phone off on Sunday afternoons.</p>
<p>The nicest parts of their time together were simple. Like dancing around the kitchen listening to western music as Katsuya filled the house with vanilla and flour explosions. Like cuddling up beside the fire during the throes of winter with Seto and a nice hot chocolate. Heads on shoulders. Fingers interlaced. Seto eventually relaxing and falling asleep on his chest.</p>
<p>Katsuya felt alive. Despite his average job, average income, average life expectancy.  </p>
<p>In the same way these waves felt alive. Like they were determined to give it their all until their last dying swell.</p>
<p>Katsuya told the water of all of his struggles. He told the water about Shizuka’s successful eye surgery. Of Duel Monsters. Of Seto. Their first kiss. Together they had a lot of firsts from there. He introduced Seto a little along the way. Brought him down with a picnic and explained why this secluded pocket of Domino was so important to him. Seto sat and listened, fingers laced together in thought.</p>
<p>On this beach, where at midnight after graduation they snuck down and got so drunk off a bottle of cheap convenience store <em>sake</em>. Giggling like maniacs about kissing each other in front of their classmates. Telling each other “I love you” a thousand times while their speech bubbles with drunken babbling.</p>
<p>On this beach, where Katsuya casually asked Seto if he would ever want to get married, and Seto said yes, I want to get married to you someday. But they were young then. Barely legal adults. The waves crashed in glee. Katsuya drew their initials in the sand and waited for the water to creep in to wash them away as they welcomed the cool sea breeze in the blistering summer.</p>
<p>On the beach, where Seto asked Katsuya to seriously marry him after five years together. No rings. Just a question. And Katsuya said absolutely, yes. You’re the love of my life.</p>
<p>It really shook society up when Katsuya and Seto Kaiba had announced their engagement. After holding onto it between themselves for a quiet moment. Gleefully holding hands. Seto’s face was bashful, a peppered blush over the bridge of his nose. Katsuya remembers grinning so much his face hurt.</p>
<p>Katsuya wants to have a small ceremony, on this tiny little beach. Just the two of them. Mokuba and Shizuka too. Until Japan recognises their union, he guesses they’ll stay engaged. It’s the start of a conversation now. A high-profile gay relationship. Katsuya is proud of the other couples that have followed them out.</p>
<p>Like the water laps at the rocks, Katsuya hopes they’ll erode the prejudice in society this way. That people will step towards them and observe the beauty of how Seto reacts in tiny ways to Katsuya’s touches. Like tiny magnets under their skin that draw them in. That there’s nothing perverse about being in love. That gender doesn’t matter. All the stereotypes of two men in love are wrong. There is no one way to love. In the same way they set each other on fire, they cool each other down.</p>
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